Sir Paul McCartney defends Kanye West's version of Beatles tune All Day

Sir Paul McCartney has praised Kanye West for transforming his melody 'All Day' into an "urban" track that became a hit for the rapper in 2015 and defended his use of the 'N-word' in the song

Sir Paul McCartney has defended Kanye West's version of his Beatles melody 'All Day' and thinks it is an "urban" hit.

The 73-year-old music legend worked with the superstar rapper last year on the track and 'Only One' and 'FourFiveSeconds', which also featured Rihanna, and has praised him for breathing new life into the unused Beatles tune.

Referring to Kanye's work on the song and its new lyrics, which now include the explicit "N-word", he said: "I get this track back, a thing called 'All Day': he's taken my melody and he's made it seriously urban, which is funny because the lyrics use the N-word - a lot! 'How long have you been at the mall? All day, N-word!"

Paul shot down criticism of the song and said he is "pleased" with the track and doesn't mind the use of the N-word, which is considered offensive for non African Americans to use because it was commonly used in the past as an ethnic slur by white people to identify people with black skin.

He explained to BBC Radio Four's 'Mastertapes': "It's a great record, sonically it's brilliant, but quite a few people said, 'You can't be connected with this, there's, like, 40 N-words.

"People (who are) a little conservative about that stuff, said, 'You shouldn't do it, even black people shouldn't use that word. I said, 'Yeah, but it's Kanye! And he's talking about an urban generation that uses that word in a completely different way. It's the context. So I was actually pleased with it."

Discussing his working relationship with Kanye, he described him as a "monster" who he has a lot of respect for in the studio and who "inspires" him.

He added: "I love Kanye, and he loves me. He's a monster, he's a crazy guy who comes up with great stuff so he inspires me."

'All Day' was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Rap Song and Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance at the awards in February.

However, Paul previously admitted he had reservations about working with the 'Gold Digger' rapper.

The star - who was a songwriting pioneer in his time in The Beatles with Ringo Starr and the late John Lennon and George Harrison - said: "I worked with Kanye and for a second I thought, 'Is this something I want to do, ought to do?' So I thought about it and then it's like, 'Why not?' If nothing, he's an interesting character ... This is the great thing about all this, it just keeps you fresh."